The Cincture of the Theotokos brings grace: One of the greatest Christian Relics, kept on Mount Athos, to be carried in the Ascension Day procession
The Cincture of the Theotokos brings grace: One of the greatest Christian Relics, kept on Mount Athos, to be carried in the Ascension Day procession
Numerous Orthodox faithful in our country were gladdened by the news that on 20 May, the day before the Feast of the Ascension, one of the greatest relics of the Christian world – the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos, preserved for centuries in the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos and only exceptionally taken from the Holy Mountain – will arrive in Belgrade.
This will be the first time that the relic is carried in the Ascension Day procession in a city that venerates the Mother of God as its Protectress, and it will be displayed in the Church of Ascension and the Church of Saint Sava. As planned, on 20 May the Cincture will be solemnly escorted from the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos to a ship at the monastery harbor, which will take it to the port of Thessaloniki. From there, it will continue to Thessaloniki Airport, where Hegumen Ephraim, together with the relic and a sacred entourage, will depart by plane for Serbia. At Belgrade Airport, the relic will be received with church and state honors by Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, along with the highest Church and state dignitaries. Deacon Vasilije Bursać, director of the Pilgrimage Agency “Dobročinstvo,” in a conversation for Novosti, says that this event is of exceptional importance for the Serbian Orthodox Church and the faithful.
– This relic is a personal belonging of the Most Holy Theotokos and, as such, brings us a grace such as our capital Belgrade and our homeland Serbia have not seen or experienced for centuries – says Deacon Vasilije. – Before us is undoubtedly an event that we will remember forever and that will remain inscribed in the sacred history of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It is a great blessing of the Most Holy Mother of God which, by Divine Providence, comes upon all of us in our time. Every Christian soul in Serbia will feel the grace and joy with which this relic overshadows all places wherever it may be. When Despot Stefan proclaimed Belgrade the Serbian capital, he offered it and dedicated it precisely to the Theotokos. Belgrade, as a city of the Mother of God, will finally receive the relic which, accordingly, is coming to its home. According to him, the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos is coming to Serbia and Belgrade in the only possible way – by the providence and mercy of God.
– As church order and tradition require, Patriarch Porfirije requested Hegumen Ephraim of Vatopedi – his friend and a friend of our Church and people – to bring this relic to our capital on the occasion of the city’s patronal feast – says the deacon. – Throughout the entire undertaking, there has also been the love and effort of Nenad Popović, the minister responsible for the social position of the Church in the country and abroad. All the relics on Mount Athos, including the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos as one of the greatest among them, very rarely leave the Garden of the Mother of God, as the monastic sacred community on Athos is also called.
– When that does happen, there are strict rules that have been observed there for more than a thousand years – our interlocutor emphasizes. – All such matters are decided by the Holy Epistasia, a four-member council elected by representatives of all twenty monasteries on Mount Athos, whose administrative seat is in Karyes. The transfer of relics in our Church is carried out according to precisely established rules, with all the liturgical rites prescribed for such events. The Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos has indeed left Mount Athos before, but not very often.
– This has generally occurred for special reasons, all of which were for the strengthening of faith and the bestowal of heavenly blessing from the Most Holy Mother of God upon the faithful people who welcomed the relic – the deacon says. – When this relic, in the hands of the holy Hegumen of Vatopedi Ephraim, was brought to Russia, more than four million people venerated it. That sufficiently speaks of the reverence for and the healing – both of soul and body – power of the grace of this relic.
There are numerous testimonies from believers about help and healings associated with this relic. Explaining how the Church understands such experiences, Deacon Vasilije says: – As miraculous, just as they are called. In Holy Scripture, a miracle of God is also referred to as a ‘sign.’ Through such a sign, as this wondrous and precious Cincture of the Most Holy Mother of God, God is revealed – His love, His power, His grace, which is always the primary agent of every miracle. For a miracle to occur, the strength of living faith is also necessary. The entire history of the Church is filled with such continuous miracles, that is, signs of God, which the merciful Lord sends us, in His boundless love and in response to our human weakness, to lead us into and establish us in faith. The holy Cincture covered the womb of the Theotokos while the yet-unborn Lord Christ dwelt within her, and thus the grace of healing was transmitted to the Cincture. It is an ancient tradition of the holy monastery of Vatopedi that devout pilgrims, if they request it, are given small pieces of ribbon that have been sanctified on the very Cincture of the Mother of God. By the grace of the honorable Cincture, countless miracles occur. On this occasion in Belgrade as well, small pieces of ribbon sanctified on the Cincture itself will be distributed to the faithful who request them.
The deacon reveals that from Belgrade Airport the relic will be taken to the Church of Ascension. – As soon as the relic enters the church, the faithful will be able to approach and venerate it – he says. – Of course, there will be moments when, for practical liturgical reasons, it will not be possible to approach the reliquary in which the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos is kept. The following day, on the city’s patronal feast, a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy will be served in the churchyard, presided over by the Patriarch. During the service, the faithful will be able to approach the relic. In the evening, at 7 p.m., the Ascension Day procession will begin, led by the Patriarch, in which the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos will be carried through the streets of Belgrade to the Church of Saint Sava, for the sanctification of the city and its inhabitants. When the procession arrives at the Church of Saint Sava, the relic will be brought inside, and the appropriate services will begin to be celebrated. Then, as well as during the following nine days, the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos will be displayed to the faithful in the Church of Saint Sava for help, blessing, the healing of body, and the salvation of the soul. Anyone who wishes will be able to approach and venerate the relic of the Mother of God.
Deacon Vasilije says that during his service in the “Dobročinstvo” agency he often visited Vatopedi. – Every time I step into that holy convent, I am filled with a completely new and unique grace that that holy place abundantly pours out upon every visitor. Every Serbian should lovingly pronounce the name Vatopedi, because the monk Sava, the newly tonsured Serbian prince, first labored ascetically in this holy monastery in such a way that, as his biographer records, even the Hegumen marveled at his angel-like ascetic struggle. In Vatopedi, father and son – Saint Simeon and Saint Sava – met for the first time as monks. They offered so much together to the monastery that to this day they are proudly remembered in Vatopedi as its second founders. It was in Vatopedi that the blessed idea was born to establish a Serbian monastery on Mount Athos – Hilandar. Among the many relics preserved for centuries in the monastery treasury and numerous churches, including the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos and a fragment of the Precious Cross on which the Savior was crucified – one of the greatest – I always have a strong sense, each time I enter this second-ranking monastery of Mount Athos, that I have come home. It is something profoundly beautiful and powerful. Vatopedi is Hilandar before Hilandar, if I may put it that way. A great and significant holy place in the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
According to tradition, the Mother of God herself wove the Cincture from camel hair, says the deacon. After her Dormition, it was given to the Apostle Thomas. Throughout history it traveled widely – from Jerusalem, through Cappadocia and Constantinople, to Bulgaria. After the Serbian victory over the Bulgarians at the Battle of Velbazhd in 1330, together with a fragment of the Precious Cross, it came into Serbian hands. Prince Lazar donated the Cincture, as well as the fragment of the Cross, to the Vatopedi Monastery, where it is kept in the altar of the monastery’s main church. In the monastery chapel dedicated to the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos, there is a fresco depicting Prince Lazar holding and offering to Vatopedi the reliquary containing the Cincture. While the relic is in the Church of Saint Sava, a conference will be held on the connection between the Serbians and the Vatopedi Monastery from Saint Sava to the present day. A short documentary film on the same theme will also be shown. With the Patriarch’s blessing, a film crew of the Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church visited Vatopedi and spent several days there filming. On that occasion, an exclusive interview was recorded with Hegumen Ephraim, which will be broadcast shortly before the arrival of the Cincture.
– The honorable Cincture of the Lady Theotokos is for us a wonderworking relic, an inexhaustible source of healing, an unfailing and inexhaustible treasury of God’s grace, as well as consolation, for the Most Holy Mother of God willed that this blessed part of her garment should acquire such power and grace. The value of the Cincture is inexpressible and immeasurable, because it possesses the inexhaustible and indelible grace of the Mother of God, having been connected with her person and life, as well as with the person and earthly life of Jesus Christ. It is a great mercy of God that we in our land of Serbia, in our Belgrade, will have the blessing to physically touch, kiss, and venerate something that is a part of heaven. All, the entire Serbian Orthodox people, should approach the honorable Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos in the fear of God and in the strength of living faith in the Lord Christ and His All-Holy Mother, who, as the holiest of all human beings, works miracles more than any saint.
Source: novosti.rs
Numerous Orthodox faithful in our country were gladdened by the news that on 20 May, the day before the Feast of the Ascension, one of the greatest relics of the Christian world – the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos, preserved for centuries in the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos and only exceptionally taken from the Holy Mountain – will arrive in Belgrade.
This will be the first time that the relic is carried in the Ascension Day procession in a city that venerates the Mother of God as its Protectress, and it will be displayed in the Church of Ascension and the Church of Saint Sava. As planned, on 20 May the Cincture will be solemnly escorted from the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos to a ship at the monastery harbor, which will take it to the port of Thessaloniki. From there, it will continue to Thessaloniki Airport, where Hegumen Ephraim, together with the relic and a sacred entourage, will depart by plane for Serbia. At Belgrade Airport, the relic will be received with church and state honors by Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, along with the highest Church and state dignitaries. Deacon Vasilije Bursać, director of the Pilgrimage Agency “Dobročinstvo,” in a conversation for Novosti, says that this event is of exceptional importance for the Serbian Orthodox Church and the faithful.
– This relic is a personal belonging of the Most Holy Theotokos and, as such, brings us a grace such as our capital Belgrade and our homeland Serbia have not seen or experienced for centuries – says Deacon Vasilije. – Before us is undoubtedly an event that we will remember forever and that will remain inscribed in the sacred history of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It is a great blessing of the Most Holy Mother of God which, by Divine Providence, comes upon all of us in our time. Every Christian soul in Serbia will feel the grace and joy with which this relic overshadows all places wherever it may be. When Despot Stefan proclaimed Belgrade the Serbian capital, he offered it and dedicated it precisely to the Theotokos. Belgrade, as a city of the Mother of God, will finally receive the relic which, accordingly, is coming to its home. According to him, the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos is coming to Serbia and Belgrade in the only possible way – by the providence and mercy of God.
– As church order and tradition require, Patriarch Porfirije requested Hegumen Ephraim of Vatopedi – his friend and a friend of our Church and people – to bring this relic to our capital on the occasion of the city’s patronal feast – says the deacon. – Throughout the entire undertaking, there has also been the love and effort of Nenad Popović, the minister responsible for the social position of the Church in the country and abroad. All the relics on Mount Athos, including the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos as one of the greatest among them, very rarely leave the Garden of the Mother of God, as the monastic sacred community on Athos is also called.
– When that does happen, there are strict rules that have been observed there for more than a thousand years – our interlocutor emphasizes. – All such matters are decided by the Holy Epistasia, a four-member council elected by representatives of all twenty monasteries on Mount Athos, whose administrative seat is in Karyes. The transfer of relics in our Church is carried out according to precisely established rules, with all the liturgical rites prescribed for such events. The Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos has indeed left Mount Athos before, but not very often.
– This has generally occurred for special reasons, all of which were for the strengthening of faith and the bestowal of heavenly blessing from the Most Holy Mother of God upon the faithful people who welcomed the relic – the deacon says. – When this relic, in the hands of the holy Hegumen of Vatopedi Ephraim, was brought to Russia, more than four million people venerated it. That sufficiently speaks of the reverence for and the healing – both of soul and body – power of the grace of this relic.
There are numerous testimonies from believers about help and healings associated with this relic. Explaining how the Church understands such experiences, Deacon Vasilije says: – As miraculous, just as they are called. In Holy Scripture, a miracle of God is also referred to as a ‘sign.’ Through such a sign, as this wondrous and precious Cincture of the Most Holy Mother of God, God is revealed – His love, His power, His grace, which is always the primary agent of every miracle. For a miracle to occur, the strength of living faith is also necessary. The entire history of the Church is filled with such continuous miracles, that is, signs of God, which the merciful Lord sends us, in His boundless love and in response to our human weakness, to lead us into and establish us in faith. The holy Cincture covered the womb of the Theotokos while the yet-unborn Lord Christ dwelt within her, and thus the grace of healing was transmitted to the Cincture. It is an ancient tradition of the holy monastery of Vatopedi that devout pilgrims, if they request it, are given small pieces of ribbon that have been sanctified on the very Cincture of the Mother of God. By the grace of the honorable Cincture, countless miracles occur. On this occasion in Belgrade as well, small pieces of ribbon sanctified on the Cincture itself will be distributed to the faithful who request them.
The deacon reveals that from Belgrade Airport the relic will be taken to the Church of Ascension. – As soon as the relic enters the church, the faithful will be able to approach and venerate it – he says. – Of course, there will be moments when, for practical liturgical reasons, it will not be possible to approach the reliquary in which the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos is kept. The following day, on the city’s patronal feast, a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy will be served in the churchyard, presided over by the Patriarch. During the service, the faithful will be able to approach the relic. In the evening, at 7 p.m., the Ascension Day procession will begin, led by the Patriarch, in which the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos will be carried through the streets of Belgrade to the Church of Saint Sava, for the sanctification of the city and its inhabitants. When the procession arrives at the Church of Saint Sava, the relic will be brought inside, and the appropriate services will begin to be celebrated. Then, as well as during the following nine days, the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos will be displayed to the faithful in the Church of Saint Sava for help, blessing, the healing of body, and the salvation of the soul. Anyone who wishes will be able to approach and venerate the relic of the Mother of God.
Deacon Vasilije says that during his service in the “Dobročinstvo” agency he often visited Vatopedi. – Every time I step into that holy convent, I am filled with a completely new and unique grace that that holy place abundantly pours out upon every visitor. Every Serbian should lovingly pronounce the name Vatopedi, because the monk Sava, the newly tonsured Serbian prince, first labored ascetically in this holy monastery in such a way that, as his biographer records, even the Hegumen marveled at his angel-like ascetic struggle. In Vatopedi, father and son – Saint Simeon and Saint Sava – met for the first time as monks. They offered so much together to the monastery that to this day they are proudly remembered in Vatopedi as its second founders. It was in Vatopedi that the blessed idea was born to establish a Serbian monastery on Mount Athos – Hilandar. Among the many relics preserved for centuries in the monastery treasury and numerous churches, including the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos and a fragment of the Precious Cross on which the Savior was crucified – one of the greatest – I always have a strong sense, each time I enter this second-ranking monastery of Mount Athos, that I have come home. It is something profoundly beautiful and powerful. Vatopedi is Hilandar before Hilandar, if I may put it that way. A great and significant holy place in the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
According to tradition, the Mother of God herself wove the Cincture from camel hair, says the deacon. After her Dormition, it was given to the Apostle Thomas. Throughout history it traveled widely – from Jerusalem, through Cappadocia and Constantinople, to Bulgaria. After the Serbian victory over the Bulgarians at the Battle of Velbazhd in 1330, together with a fragment of the Precious Cross, it came into Serbian hands. Prince Lazar donated the Cincture, as well as the fragment of the Cross, to the Vatopedi Monastery, where it is kept in the altar of the monastery’s main church. In the monastery chapel dedicated to the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos, there is a fresco depicting Prince Lazar holding and offering to Vatopedi the reliquary containing the Cincture. While the relic is in the Church of Saint Sava, a conference will be held on the connection between the Serbians and the Vatopedi Monastery from Saint Sava to the present day. A short documentary film on the same theme will also be shown. With the Patriarch’s blessing, a film crew of the Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church visited Vatopedi and spent several days there filming. On that occasion, an exclusive interview was recorded with Hegumen Ephraim, which will be broadcast shortly before the arrival of the Cincture.
– The honorable Cincture of the Lady Theotokos is for us a wonderworking relic, an inexhaustible source of healing, an unfailing and inexhaustible treasury of God’s grace, as well as consolation, for the Most Holy Mother of God willed that this blessed part of her garment should acquire such power and grace. The value of the Cincture is inexpressible and immeasurable, because it possesses the inexhaustible and indelible grace of the Mother of God, having been connected with her person and life, as well as with the person and earthly life of Jesus Christ. It is a great mercy of God that we in our land of Serbia, in our Belgrade, will have the blessing to physically touch, kiss, and venerate something that is a part of heaven. All, the entire Serbian Orthodox people, should approach the honorable Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos in the fear of God and in the strength of living faith in the Lord Christ and His All-Holy Mother, who, as the holiest of all human beings, works miracles more than any saint.
Source: novosti.rs
